I just started a new job and signing up for healthcare has just sent me into outer space. I'm pay $1014 a month for my family for basic insurance. There's a $6000 in-network deductible on top of that. I also signed up for hospital, injury and cancer insurance which adds another $60/month to that total. My sister was recently diagnosed with a serious cancer causing gene mutation and I'm hedging my bets in case I have it to. If I do I will need major surgery soon and will be in the hospital for 5 days and recovering for quite some time, so the extras felt needed, not “just in case”. I'm putting $400 a month in an HSA to help cover the cost of the deductible because nothing is paid for until I reach it.
Guys I have a “good” job. I make $110k, and I feel completely drowned by this. The cost of the insurance alone (not including out of pocket expenses) is a massive chunk of my salary. It's more than my mortgage, which isn't cheap already. And this is considered GOOD insurance!
I'm 32, I'm healthy, and I feel drowned by healthcare costs. I can't even imagine if someone in my family was seriously sick. Why the HELL did we in the US decide that healthcare being tied to your job was a good idea??? I really don't understand why people are so anti universal healthcare here. The argument I hear all the time is “I don't want to pay for other people's stuff” but they fail to realize that we are all paying WAY TOO MUCH for our own healthcare, and “paying for other people's stuff” actually means we all spend way less on healthcare!!!
Anyways, all this to say, please vote, please keep these things in mind. This effects everyone, not just me, and I realize that my position is actually quite favorable to a lot of others in this country, and that breaks my fucking heart.